Anthony Pico
November 8

Length: 00:58:14

Anthony has been advocating on behalf of foster youth since the age of 15. He speaks on various topics including mental health, youth involvement, policy implementation and permanency. His most notable accomplishments are being appointed as a Commissioner to the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Children in Foster Care and having a segment about his advocacy and life air on NPR's "This American Life".

A brief excerpt from the episode of This American Life featuring Anthony, called “The Spokesman":

“Most kids in foster care couldn’t stand up there, talk for an hour with a half page of notes and own the room the way Anthony does. Most of them are struggling just to hold their lives together. The University of Chicago researchers did a massive survey of teens within the foster care system at 18 within a year. Nearly 70% had dropped out of high school. Half had lost their health insurance. Almost half the girls had gotten pregnant. One in five kids had spent a night in jail. Fifteen percent had been homeless. What saved Anthony is public speaking. It came easily to him. He’s always been a talker.”
http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=338

Anthony Pico (left) with San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom

Through his time being an advocate he has worked for the United Way's Honoring Emancipated Youth organization and was intern for the Youth Law Center(where he wrote his first training curriculum at the age of 15). At the age of 17 he served as a commissioner to the San Francisco Youth Commission and was a committee member for the Health and Social Services Committee. Anthony has also been a part of a national training team called the Y.O.U.T.H. training project which trains social workers and child welfare professionals on a more youth focused/youth empowering approach to their job field.

Some of his past speaking audiences include: San Francisco CASA, the National CASA Conference, California Institute for Mental Health and the American Bar Association.